Capacitive sensors are used in many applications. For example, such sensors are used in micromachined accelerometers to sense acceleration for a variety of applications, including sensing the acceleration that occurs as a result of an automobile accident in order to trigger an air bag, or sensing the acceleration resulting from an earthquake in order to automatically shut off a gas line to prevent fires. Other applications of capacitive sensors include pressure sensors for biological and industrial measurements and fluid level monitors.
In one type of micromachined device, a polysilicon mass called a “beam” is suspended over a substrate by supporting tethers. The beam, which is essentially parallel to the substrate, has a mass elongated along an axis, and a number of fingers that extend away from the mass in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the mass. The beam and fingers are movable laterally relative to the substrate along the axis. Each of these movable fingers is positioned between two polysilicon fingers that are in the plane of the beam and are fixed relative to the substrate. Each movable finger and the fixed fingers on either side of the movable finger form a differential capacitor cell. The cells additively form a differential capacitor. A structure of this type is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,824, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Different approaches can be used to sense acceleration with a differential capacitor. One approach is to use charge balanced feed back. The movable fingers (i.e., movable with the beam) are each centered between two fixed fingers. All the fixed fingers on one side of the movable fingers are electrically coupled together, and all the fixed fingers on the other side of the movable fingers are also electrically coupled together. The two sets of fixed fingers are at different DC potentials and are driven with AC carrier signals that are 180 degrees out of phase with respect to each other. In response to an external force/acceleration along a sensitive axis, the beam with movable fingers moves toward one or the other set of fixed fingers. The signal on the beam is amplified, demodulated, and provided to an output terminal. A feedback network connects the output terminal and the beam. As shown in FIG. 1, the common-mode potential Vcm is servoed so that the net charge delivered to the summing node is nulled out during each clock cycle.
Charge balanced feedback has the advantage of suppressing nonlinear electrostatic effects while allowing for the sensor beam to move freely. The response of the sensor is approximately linear for small displacements about the equilibrium position. The response may become non-linear for larger displacements due to fringing field effects related to the fingers, among other causes. It is desirable to maintain the linearity of the output of the sensor as a function of the displacement for larger displacements to provide increased sensitivity and an improved signal-to-noise ratio.